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Wesley Winters
Referred to by myriad titles and nicknames, Wesley Winters is best known as the Bloodwolf, the man who leads the Irish rebellion force, Bloodwolf's Host. An outgoing, sociable and friendly man Winters is nontheless ruthlessly brutal in warfare and utterly without mercy towards his enemies. He has sworn vengeance upon the dragon Abraxis for what he has done to his beloved home country. __TOC__ Abilities Blood Manipulation: With the chaos that was the Shift came the awakening of Wes' powers, that of the dominion over blood. While at first it may not come across as a terribly impressive power, it can be incredibly potent and versatile when used correctly, and in the right circumstances. At it's base level, it enhances every aspect of Wes' physicality, granting him superior strength, speed, durability, enhanced senses and so on. Without any other blood to draw upon, Wes' base physical traits are enhanced to roughly four or five times that of their normal state while his senses are such that his sense of smell equals that of a canine, his eyesight that of a hawk, and so forth. At the same time, he regenerates at an astonishing rate, though the extent and speed of his regeneration varies enormously depending on how much blood he has available. Without any blood other than his own in his system, he can heal minor wounds within minutes, and major ones within several hours though this is risky as regenerating major wounds will leave him barely able to move unless he absorbs blood, and even healing minor wounds weakens him significantly. Wes is capable of granting these boons to others temporarily by touching their flesh for roughly ten seconds, and it lasts for about an hour at a time, though its effects and duration varies from person to person. As well, Wes can produce and control constructs formed from blood which are of the same strength and sharpness as the hardest steel, though the amount and size of these constructs is highly dependent upon the amount of blood Wes can spare to have outside his body at the one time. A very important facet of his power is the absorption of the blood of others. In order to do this, orifices of varying size can open up in Wes' flesh, usually upon the palm of his hand. These orifices possess dozens of small, razor sharp teeth designed to bite into the victim's flesh and siphon their blood into Wes' system, where he can utilise it or store it for later use. This has several effects. He can track and sense the blood of those he has consumed within several hundred feet or more if they are actively bleeding. Most importantly, it can allow him to temporarily gain the powers of the person he has absorbed the blood from. Note that this does not permanently or temporarily take the power from the victim, they will experience no side effects other than what comes with a large amount of blood loss. The more blood he absorbs, the longer he is granted the use of their powers, up to a maximum of three hours. He may absorb blood from up to twenty people and utilise their powers before he must forcibly expel their blood from his body, or suffer the gruesome fate or erupting into a fountain of gore. As well, through this absorption process he may absorb the skills and memories of the victim, though these tend to take longer to wear off, requiring double the time to fade from his system as powers do. The drawback to this is that if he absorbs too much from a person, or too many people at once, his mind effectively shatters into fragments containing the various thoughts, feelings and personalities of both himself and those he has absorbed from. On the other hand, he can use this ability to help others. In the time since his powers has begun blossoming, he has found that he can effectively filter out and get rid of impurities and viruses from people's bodies, essentially curing them of various infections, viruses and so on. This has been proven to work on the W, V and Z viruses, though only within the 28-48 hour window before the virus truly sets in. After that, they are outside of Wesley's ability to help them. Melee Weapon Proficiency: Owing to his family's penchant for keeping alive ancient traditions, Wes has been trained to fight with and without a variety of weaponry suited to close combat since he was old enough to hold one in his hand. Tutored in the use of almost every melee weapon imaginable Wes is at his deadliest up close and personal with a weapon in hand. Though skilled with a variety of implements he favours bladed instruments of warfare, more specifically swords, which he prefers to wield two at a time. Unarmed Combat: Alongside his training with weaponry, Wes has been extensively trained in the art of using his own body as a weapon, tutored in several forms of physical combat both deadly and in those designed to harmlessly incapacitate his foes. Receiving teachings from a great many masters, Wes is adept at switching between or even combining different styles and can modulate his tactics to adapt to just about any situation. For the most part, however, he favours Muay Thai, a fairly brutal style designed to take down opponents as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Forging: Initially more of a borderline obsessive hobby than anything, since the Shift Wes has used the events of the past few years to fuel his passion for forging beautiful and deadly things from all types of metal into a practical and indispensable necessity. His skill has increased immensely and his ability to craft items from metal is breathtaking, many of his pieces being renowned for being both of extremely high quality in regards to killing or protection and being beautiful in design. He is more than capable of producing weapons and armour of extraordinary quality, and he has even experimented with combining his blood manipulation powers into the forging process, though he has barely scratched the surface of what it can do, if anything. Wes has no interest or experience in creating anything other than melee weapons and armour, as of yet. Computer Programming: Wes is highly proficient in the area of computer programming, having studied the subject and worked in the field for a number of years Capable of writing code for a variety of programs and purposes, Wes nontheless tends to keep to his favourite category and spends a great deal of his free time tinkering with various game projects he has ongoing. In recent times, when he has access to a computer, he has taken to using his talent for more practical means, branching out into building secure databases to store sensitive information he requires to be kept safe, or prying into similar stores of knowledge that belong to others. Wilderness Survival: Heaving spent a great deal of time in the forests, bogs and mountainous regions of his home country since the Shift, Wes has become adept at a number of skills pertaining to surviving and hunting in such an environment. In the course of hunting prey, animal human and non-human alike, his skill in the arts of stealth, tracking and so on have flourished, and while he is very skilled, he is far from having mastered them. Biological Profile Appearance Wesley is a striking man at first glance, pale of skin, dark of and tall, handsome and rugged. Standing at six foot six, he is an exceptionally tall man, though well proportioned and far from being considered lanky. Broad shouldered, long legged and possessed of narrow hips he has the classic swordsman's build. Lean, he would never be considered bulky but by no means is he weak, with ropes of corded muscle on every limb and boasting an impressively trim physique. His hair is of medium length and holds the glossy black hue of a raven's wing, usually kept in an artful mess that is nontheless carelessly stylish. With eyes of the brightest, coldest blue reminiscent of a winter's sky, he has what some might consider a piercing gaze, yet when he smiles his eyes light up with mirth and lend him a softer, friendlier countenance. His possesses strong features, with a solid, stubborn jaw that is stubbled more often than not, patrician nose and sculpted cheekbones Personal Belongings Skoll and Hati: Forged by the man himself and imbued with a large amount of his own blood, these are the twin swords that Wes is almost never seen without, the large, vaguely curved swords eternally belted at his hips. Having been imbued with so much of his own blood, he is capable of sensing where the weapons are within several hundred feet, and has limited control of them much like he does with his blood constructs, though to a much lesser degree. Grosse messers, they are long and mostly straight, save for the tip where they curve up. Skoll's blade is a crisp white in colour, the length of metal gloriously maintained and polished to a glimmering sheen, the worn leather of it's grip dyed in the same colour. Hati on the other hand, possesses a deep and lustrous black blade that is reminiscent of the still surface of a lake in the dead of the night. Vengeance: The Winters' family heirloom, this monstrous weapon differs from the typical Irish greatsword in that its blade is longer and wider, being a hand's span across and almost six foot in length. With a blade as red as blood and engraved with ancient runes that translate to the word that gives the sword its name, it makes for an impressive and intimidating sight. Wes has never wielded it in battle, though he has practiced with it religiously since the Shift and in his hands the blade is as quick and nimble as any rapier. He saves the blade only for those who have greatly wronged himself and his family, which currently include the dragon Abraxas and Cithe, the each uisge that killed his sister. Wes possesses a suit of armour that is both practical and ceremonial in fuction, serving to shield his body from most external forces as well as giving him a very distinct and iconic appearance when he wears it, a useful thing in a battlefield. Forged of the strongest metals Wes could get his hands on, the crimson armour is wicked and intimidating in appearance with the majority of its surface engraved with wolf iconography, with the breastplate possessing a particularly spectacular piece of a blood red wolf tearing into a dragon's throat. The pauldrons and helm take the shape of snarling wolf's heads with enormous fangs, and the gauntlets are pointed in the manner of claws. At all times, Wes keeps a small, simple silver ring on a leather cord around his neck. The ring is the engagement ring he gave to his fiancee Aisling before the shift and is without ornamentation save for a small inscription which reads, "To my dream. -W." Wes often holds the ring when in private, when he permits himself to think about the woman he loved so dearly. Along with Vengeance, the other family heirloom Wes keeps with him is the ring his family gifted to him when he turned eighteen. Designed by his little sister, the ring is constantly upon his right hand and takes the shape of a wolf's head grasping a sword in its jaws and with wings at it's side. His sister explained this choice in design by saying, "You're like a wolf, Wes. Big, strong and fierce with sharp teeth, but you're loyal and fluffy and fun. The wings represent your love for freedom and your light heart, and the sword shows you're a Winters, and it's your favourite weapon, too!" Personality Wes is, at heart, a good man. Before the shift he was friendly, outgoing and kind, possessing a soft spot for animals, females, socially awkward people and the less "normal" members of society. After the Shift, he retains much of his easygoing and charmingly friendly nature though the events during and following the Shift have served to harden him a great deal. An honourable man, when life permits him to be, he treats most people fairly and respectfully no matter their path in life. He is ruthless when dealing with the enemy and utterly merciless when confronted with betrayal and is renowned for being extraordinarily cold and harsh when the situation calls for it. Such occasions are rare, though and most would be shocked to witness the normally pleasant Wes acting in such a manner. It is tough to earn his respect and loyalty, but when it is earned it's for life, and he will go to the ends of the earth to help and protect those he cares about. Extraordinarily vengeful, there is little on this Earth that will stop him from exacting his revenge upon those who have wronged him or harmed those he holds dear. History Before the Shift, the life of Wesley Winters was a good one, and a happy one. The first child born to Seth Winters and Moira McCuill, Wesley came into the world in the county of Donegal, on a night so heavily in winter's grasp that a blizzard howled and battered at the windows, exulting in it's brief, tempestuous existence. He lead an ordinary life, for the most part, attending a public school, making friends and being troubled by all the silly dramas of childhood. The one thing that set him apart from the other children that he ran about with was his family's steadfast dedication to the ancient ways of the Winters clan traditions. A clan long tied into Ireland's history, the name Winters had in the old days been synonymous with great warriors, leaders and men of honour and even in the modern age the family strove to keep this reputation alive. Almost since birth, the children born into the Winters family were trained in the time honoured arts of warfare, both modern and ancient. For Wesley, and his younger sister Morrigan, this took the form of being instructed in military strategum and tactics, being educated on various historically significant battles and general of the past, and of course the more physical aspects of personal combat. The eldest Winters child took to this peculiar education excellently, displaying prodigious talent and enthusiasm for both the theory and practical execution of what he was taught, and his skills blossomed. This continued on unabated, even as they occasionally moved from County to County, though Morrigan grew less and less interested in the family traditions and more intrigued by the dramatic life of a teenager. As he matured, so too did Wesley's skills, his natural talents becoming steadily more and more refined as he was groomed by a wide stable of family tutors and he practiced diligently despite a large portion of his free time being devoured by the demands of college, where he went to study Computer Programming. It was here that he met the woman that would eventually become his fiance Aisling, a fiery, bubbly girl that Wes fell head over heels in love with. They dated for a few years, eventually getting engaged when Wesley was twenty, with plans to marry whenever they both deemed they were ready. Tragically, their marriage was not to be. Shortly after Wesley's twenty third birthday, the world-shattering event that would come to be known as the Shift occurred, and with it, Wesley' life fell apart. As with so many others, Wesley was blessed, or cursed, with inhuman powers. These manifested as he was holding on to Aisling, his fiance, in order to try and shelter her as best he could from the devastation that had erupted around them. Unbidden, however, Wesley's powers awakened, with several toothed orifices opening up within his flesh, the gruesome teeth biting into his love's tender skin and draining the very life from her body. Wesley, frightened and dazed was only aware of what was happening when it was too late, vainly attempting to tear himself from the steadily weakening form of Aisling but the teeth had sunk too far and all attempts at freeing her were futile. He could only sit there in horror, staring helplessly as he siphoned the life from her, completely unable to shut off the horrific powers he had manifested. In a matter of seconds, the only thing left of Aisling was a dessicated husk and it was only then that the unnatural toothed orifices relinquished their hold on her. Yet that was perhaps not the worst of it. With the act of draining all of his sweetheart's blood into himself came all of her memories, thoughts and innermost secrets. Maddened, he fled through the streets, his mind a crazed, shattered mass of both her memories and his, her voice and feelings stabbing at his heart as if punishing him for his crime and he could feel every moment of her pain in her dying moments as if he were living them himself. This traumatic blending of beings lasted for a full six hours, whereupon the young man collapsed, his mind folding in on itself in a desperate attempt to shelter his sanity. In time, his natural strength of will and resilence reasserted itself, and he shelved the raw pain he felt in order to take stock of the situation. All about him and indeed all over the country, things had gone to hell. The initial chaos caused by the Shift was compounded by what were reportedly invasions from a force under the command of a dragon, of all things. Wes returned to his home to find no sign of his family, though there bodies were absent, though he dared not hope. Collecting his weapons of choice, he took to wandering the countryside, until he came across a small contingent of invaders that had a number of captives in tow. Reasoning that the enemy of his enemy was his friend, Wes stalked the group until they came to a rest at night in the clearing of a vast wood. Waiting until only a token guard were still awake, he used his years of training and burgeoning powers to quickly and quietly dispatch the guards before freeing the captives and urging them to turn upon the invaders, where they slaughtered them until none were left alive. To the ones he had rescued, he gave them a simple offer. Stick together, look out for each other and survive to fight back against those who had taken their country. To a man, they agreed and over time they repeated this process when they came across groups or individuals being hounded or captured by the invaders, performing hit and run strikes and utilising the natural terrain in guerilla tactics. A few months after the Shift, Wesley had the fortune of running across a small group of captives, one of which was his sister, Morrigan. Freeing her, their reunion was bittersweet, for Morrigan informed him that their parents had died buying her time to escape into the wilds. As time went on, Wes unwillingly garnered a name for himself, with some of his followers dubbing him with various titles, with a few taking hold, such as the Bloodstorm, Bloodwolf and Knight of Blood. Resigned to becoming the leader of this nascent rebellion, Wes permitted this and even embraced the growing legend to a certain degree, forging for himself crimson armour ornamented with wolf iconography and allowing the more imaginative members of the rebellion to spread stories of the exploits of the Bloodwolf and his Host. Taking a number of fortified positions throughout the country, the Bloodwolf's Host as they came to call themselves, provided a spark of hope in the long night of Abraxas' rule. When the rebel force grew too large for one man to manage on his own, Wesley formed an elite group of his most trusted friends, dubbing them the Fangs, effectively marking them as his lieutenants and granting them command of their own forces. Claiming his ancestral fortress home, the Winterkeep, as their headquarters, Wesley does his best to lead the ragtag forces under his command, though the pain and loss of the events of the Shift still burn hot in his heart. Trivia Allies Bloodwolf's Host Bianca Cross Devlin Graves Xiao Qilin Fiona Danu Raphael Vittore Enemies Empire of Abraxis Cithe Saharen Time Line Category:Characters Category:Factionless Category:Bloodwolf's Host